by Harry Thompson (2005)
The year is 1828. Brilliant young naval officer Robert Fitzroy is given the captaincy of HMS *Beagle*, surveying the wilds of Tierra del Fuego, aged just twenty-three. But Fitzroy hides a dark secret: hereditary manic depression that can strike at any time. He is seized by two ambitions -- that he can prove, contrary to the spirit of the age, that black and white men are equal; and that he can prove the truth of the Book of Genesis. To this end, he takes a passenger: a young trainee cleric and amateur geologist named Charles Darwin. This is the story of a deep friendship between two men, and the twin obsessions that tore it apart, leading one to triumph and the other to disaster... *This Thing of Darkness* is not just an epic historical novel. By turns gripping, funny, satirical and heartbreaking, it is also a novel about race, religion, science and colonialism that sheds many a light on the state of our world today. It is also one of history's great untold true stories, a tale of men under sail who were prepared to risk their very lives to get at the truth.
William Wall
Teenage parents, growing up. Hard-hitting, tense and deeply moving novel that sets power and corruption against the fragile defences of love, friendship and family. As gritty as it is tender, as funny as it is dark, it tells a riveting tale of survival against the odds.
Kazuo Ishiguro
Ishiguro explores what it means to have a soul and how art distinguishes man from other life forms. But above all, *Never Let Me Go* is a study of friendship and the bonds we form which make or break while we come of age.
Roddy Doyle
The Dead Republic is a celebrated work by Roddy Doyle (Booker Prize Winner), recognized for masterclass storytelling and lasting literary resonance.
Marina Endicott
The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott is an acclaimed literary masterpiece celebrating major critical honors and timeless storytelling.